Help to Buy ISA - How does it work?

If you are saving to buy your first home, save money into a Help to Buy: ISA and the government will boost your savings by 25%. So, for every £200 you save, receive a government bonus of £50. The maximum government bonus you can receive is £3000

The accounts are available to each first time buyer, not each household. This means that if you are planning to buy with your partner, for example, you could receive a government bonus of up to £6,000 towards your first home

The minimum government bonus is £400, meaning that you need to have saved at least £1,600 into your Help to Buy: ISA before you can claim your bonus. The maximum government bonus you can receive is £3,000 – to receive that, you need to have saved £12,000

Who is eligible?

To qualify for a Help to Buy: ISA you must be:

16 or over

have a valid National Insurance number

be a UK resident be a first time buyer, and not own a property anywhere in the world

not have another active cash ISA in the same tax year: If you have opened a cash ISA this tax year, you can open a Help to Buy: ISA but will have to take additional steps.

To qualify for the government bonus, the property you are buying must:

be in the UK

cost up to £250,000, or up to £450,000 if you are buying in London

not be a second home or a buy-to-let property

not be rented out after you buy it be purchased with a mortgage

You can use the Help to Buy: ISA with other government schemes, including the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Help to Buy: Equity Loan Scheme and shared ownership